


Telephone (Long Long Distance Love Affair)

by kiss_me_cassie



Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, But No Texting While Driving, Developing Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Minor Kate Bishop/America Chavez, TFLN - Freeform, Texting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-19
Updated: 2019-02-19
Packaged: 2019-10-31 08:01:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17845532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiss_me_cassie/pseuds/kiss_me_cassie
Summary: I fucking love you!I would reciprocate the feeling if i knew who this was.And the rest, as they say, was history...





	Telephone (Long Long Distance Love Affair)

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Gecko for the awesome prompt  
> Thanks to Crazy4Orcas for the title and the beta  
> Thanks to Gsparkles for the hand holding and ending advice  
> Thanks to be_compromised for always always always being the best bar!

Natasha groaned and rolled over in bed, blindly reaching out to grab her phone and stop its incessant buzzing. What the hell was this guy texting _now_?

Prying open her eyes, she squinted at the too bright screen.

_I fuckin love you!_

Great. He fucking loved Kate. Or Katie-kate as he kept calling her. Or texting her. Over and over and over again. But if he loved her so fucking much, why the hell didn't he know her number?

She sighed, knowing there were any number of reasons he might not know it, but still… she needed her sleep. Switching her phone to silent wasn't an option; her job as a an FBI profiler made it so she had to be available at all hours in case there was an emergency.

She sighed and sat up, typing a quick response back to him.

_I would reciprocate the feeling if i knew who this was._

And I'd really appreciate it if you'd stop texting me at all hours, she silently added to herself.

But even as she thought it, she knew she was lying to herself. Whether she wanted to admit it or not, she'd been enjoying his texts. They'd been been full of pictures of his dog and silly observances about the people he saw at the park and a whole bunch of other ephemera. Nothing earth shattering, but the kind of random things you'd share with a loved one while not necessarily expecting them to respond

But now? Now she needed sleep and she couldn't let him keep texting her when he thought he was texting Kate.

She hit send on her brief message and he replied almost immediately.

_Kate?_

_Try again._

_Merica?_

She assumed that was another person. A friend of theirs?

_Nope._

_Shit… I am so sorry!_

Well, at least he felt some remorse. Not enough to make up for her lost sleep, but at least enough that he felt bad about his flurry of texts.

Her fingers hovered over the keypad while she wondered if she should just let the conversation drop or say something else. She opted for one more text.

_For what it's worth, your girlfriend sounds like a lucky woman._

_Huh? Wait! You think Kate is my GIRLFRIEND?_

_Isn't she?_

_Kate? AHAHAHAHAHA_

Well, ok, that was a little disconcerting. So… not a girlfriend. Then who was she? And why did Natasha care?

She knew exactly why. She cared because the texts that had been coming in all day had been alternately funny and sweet. And while Natasha had a small handful of close friends, her relationships with them weren't at all like what this guy seemed to have with Kate. And she kind of envied it.

She hesitated for second and then typed in another message.

_Listen, I'd love to keep chatting but my job could be texting me at any time tonight and I really need to get some sleep._

_Gotcha. Good night._

_Thanks, you too._

As soon as she hit send, Natasha regretted it. You too? What the hell had she been thinking to say that?

She flopped back onto her pillow and groaned. No use dwelling on it now. It was over. Done.  
And she'd never hear from her strange texting partner again.

She should have been happy about it. Instead, she felt just the slightest bit bereft.

\---

Her phone was buzzing again. Picking it up from her desk, Natasha glanced at the screen and smiled when she saw a new text from a now very familiar number.

_Did Clint really text you 18 times yesterday? Of course he did. I can see it on the log. Sorry!_

It had to be Kate, texting from mystery guy's phone. Natasha's grin widened and she immediately typed out a text of her own.

_The infamous Kate, I presume?_

_Kate, yes. Infamous, no. Sorry about the mix up._

_No problem. It was kind of cute._

_Clint? Cute? Ewwwww!_

And if Natasha had had any lingering doubts about a possible relationship between these two, it evaporated as soon as she read that. She was now clearly getting a sibling-like vibe from them.

_Why do you have Clint's phone?_

_I'm putting my new number in so he doesn't go off texting some strange woman 18 times again._

_Thanks. Much appreciated._

_It's the least I could do :)_

\---

_Hey!!!_

_Clint?_

_Yeah. Kate put her new number in my phone._

_I know. She told me._

_She did?_

_Yes. Yesterday. When she was holding your phone hostage so she could update it._

_Oh. Well, since I still had your number I, uh, wanted to apologize again for all those texts._

_It's ok. It was actually kinda nice._

_Yeah?_

_Yeah it was ok or yeah it was nice?_

_Both?_

_Both._

\---

Natasha expected that to be the end of things, but a few days later, she got another flurry of texts from Clint. None of them included anything super personal, but they were cute nonetheless. The final text, which came in just as she was heading to bed, was a spectacular photo of a brilliant West Coast sunset.

After that they wound up texting back and forth a lot, sharing little tidbits of their lives with one another. She found out that he'd had a crappy childhood (like her) and had had to rely on the kindness of strangers to get by (like her) and that he'd once been in the circus (definitely not at all like her).

She also learned that Kate was one of his oldest friends and that he was a total mess without her. (Natasha figured this little tidbit out because Kate began texting her every once and awhile, too, keeping her up-to-date on all of Clint's crazy antics. Even Kate's girlfriend, America, had taken to texting her occasionally. Usually when Kate and Clint were being idiots together.)

Texting quickly escalated to video chatting and pretty soon they'd become fixtures in one another's lives. Even the guys in Natasha's office started getting in on things, especially once Bucky learned Clint was a skilled sharpshooter. The two of them were constantly trying to one up each other, much to Natasha's amusement.

Everything was going along swimmingly.

That was, until she woke up one morning to find a surprising message from America on her phone.

_Chica, he's got it bad for you. Real bad._

Following her text was a video. The quality was crap, but she could make out Clint sitting at a piano in a little dive bar, Kate next to him, leaning drunkenly against his broad shoulder.

He was singing a love song, his voice rough and husky and his expression just a little bit wistful. At the end of the song, Kate nudged his shoulder so hard she almost knocked him off the piano bench and Natasha could hear her voice, loud and clear, telling him to get his ass on a plane to New York.

The video cut out at that point and that's when Natasha noticed there was an incoming text from Kate, too.

_Or you could get your ass on a plane to CA._

\---

California The thought loomed large in her in mind for days, but every time she thought about it, she convinced herself it was crazy. She couldn't just fly across country, leave her job and her life on a whim, to be with a guy she'd never even met in person.

Could she?

She could, of course, but after a lifetime of upheaval and uncertainty, the idea scared her shitless.

Thankfully, Clint was completely oblivious to his friends' machinations and his messages kept coming in regularly, full of silly pictures and mundane details about what was going on in his life. Including another ridiculous trickshot he'd made that he doubted Bucky'd be able to duplicate.

"Clint wants to know if you'd be able to make a shot like this," Natasha said, turning her phone around to show Bucky that latest video Clint had sent her.

He snorted and took the phone from her, studying the video closely. "Yeah. No problem."

Then he swiped the screen and suddenly the tinny sounds of a piano came through the speaker. Horrified that he'd stumbled upon the video America had made, Natasha made a grab for the phone, but Bucky just laughed and held it out of her reach.

"No, no, no, no," Bucky said, squinting at the screen. "I don't know what this is, but I'm pretty sure I have to see it."

"No, you don't," she protested. "It's nothing."

Bucky shook his head, his expression suddenly growing way too serious for her liking. "Doesn't look like nothing."

"It is."

"Uh-huh. You know, Natasha, as fun as all these texts and videos and everything else have been… This? This isn't nothing. This is something."

"What's something?" Steve asked, coming up behind Bucky and peering over his shoulder. Bucky hit replay and then held up the phone for him. Steve let out a low whistle and then leveled an earnest stare at Natasha. "Ok, that's it. You're going to California."

She paled. "What? No! I can't go there."

"Why not?" Steve asked.

"I just… can't."

"You mean you're afraid to," Bucky taunted.

She remained stubbornly silent.

"Too bad. You're going. We've already put together the money for a ticket for you."

"Who's we?"

"Me. Steve. Wilson and Rhodes. We've talked about it and we're tired of seeing you moon over Barton. And that was before Steve and I watched that really revealing video."

"Which wasn't for your consumption," she said, glaring at them. "I can't go to California. I have a job here."

"You think they don't have branches of the FBI out there? C'mon, I know I'm handsome and charming and Steve is the best damned partner you've ever had, but we're not enough to keep you here."

Still, a lingering doubt niggled at her. "What if Clint doesn't want me there?"

Both Steve and Bucky stared at her like she was insane. "Trust us. He wants you there."

\---

She could do this. She'd done harder things than this all her life, including leaving her abusive uncle and starting a new life in New York when she'd had no money and hadn't known anyone.

This was going to be a piece of cake compared to all that.

Because, once she finished her trek through the airport, Clint would be there waiting for her.

She'd texted as soon as the flight had given the passengers the all clear signal to turn their phones back on, letting him know she'd landed but that there was a problem with the gate and the plane would be sitting on the runway far longer than anticipated.

_No problem! You're worth waiting for._

_I bet you say that to all the girls._

_Nah, just the ones I accidentally text in the middle of the night._

_Are there a lot of those?_

_Nope. Just one super special one_

She smiled, just thinking about him. Yeah, this was going to be just fine. Better than fine.

_Is Kate with you?_

_No. Em wouldn't let her leave the car. Didn't want her elbowing in on our big moment. They're currently circling around arrivals until I've collected you and your luggage._

_Did you tell them about the delay?_

_Um, no? Guess I should maybe do that._

Trust Clint to forget his best friend in all this. She grinned, thinking about how much she was going to tease him about it when she saw him. But the second she stepped into the baggage claim area, all the witty words she'd planned dried up.

Because there he was, all six feet of him, blonde hair a crazy mess, bandage on his wrist, looking nervous but hopeful as he scanned all the incoming passengers, trying to catch sight of her.

Clint. Her Clint.

And that's when he spotted her, his whole face lighting up in delight as he took three big strides over to her and pulled her in into an all-encompassing hug, like he'd never let her go.

"Natasha," he breathed, burying his face in her hair. "God, I can't believe you're actually here. I've wanted to see you, to touch you, to feel you, for ages and now I finally can. I'm so glad you're here."

\---

Three months later…

They followed their regular routine once they got to Target, which included a hefty dose of divide and conquer. Clint veered off in one direction and she veered off in another with a jaunty wave and a promise to text him once she'd finished with her half of the list.

She was just tossing the last of her items into the cart, when her phone buzzed.

_Does Lucky need dog food?_

_Yes. And grab some kitty kibble while you're in the pet section!_

_For the stray you've adopted but insist isn't ours?_

_Yes. :P_

_Did you grab me new socks?_

_Not yet, but I can. Plain white with a purple stripe, right?_

_Yeah._

_Got 'em!_

_Thanks!_

_I'm just about done here. Meet you at checkout?_

_Yeah. And Nat? I fucking love you!_

And there it was. The text he invariably sent her every day and that never failed to make her smile. She grinned and tapped in a quick reply before heading to meet him near the registers.

_I know. Me too. See you in a few!_


End file.
